Maria Arnal will perform on 5 September on the main stage of Postcity during the festival's Nightline at Ars Electronica. Arnal will present Ama, her new work recently premiered at Sónar, born from collaboration with the Icelandic laboratory Intelligent Instrument Lab, the Barcelona Supercomputing Center, and five dancers. Ama is traditional polyphony playing with the expressive potential of synthetic voices generated from Maria Arnal’s own. The dancers act as modulators of these voices, transforming their choreography into a choral song.
Last year, Ars Electronica recognised the Catalan artist’s work with the S+T+ARTS Prize Honorary Mention for the Maria CHOIR installation, which was part of the exhibition IA: Intel·ligència artificial at the CCCB.
Meanwhile, Marc Vilanova will present his work Phonos, within the festival’s thematic exhibition. The piece, constructed with 208 recycled loudspeakers reprogrammed to emit infrasound, offers a unique sensory experience in which sound is perceived through bodily vibrations rather than hearing.
Ars Electronica has also invited the New Art Foundation to present Yolanda Uriz’s project Chemical Calls of Care II, which was also showcased at Sónar 2025.
The Catalan presence is rounded out by Domestic Data Streamers, winners of the prestigious Prix Ars Electronica Award for Digital Humanity for their project Synthetic Memories (Oficina de Memòries Sintètiques), an exhibition curated by José Luis de Vicente and displayed at Disseny Hub Barcelona in 2024. The project explored how human memories can be generated, interpreted, and reconstructed from data, algorithms, and artificial intelligence. A transgressive proposal inviting us to rethink the future of memory in the digital age.
In its latest edition, Ars Electronica welcomed a record-breaking 112,000 visitors and programmed 498 events across 18 venues in Linz and its metropolitan area, featuring 1,260 artists, scientists, developers, designers, and activists from 67 countries. You can view previous Catalan participations at the Festival on these links: 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020.
